An electromechanical brake for an aircraft generally comprises at least one electromechanical actuator comprising an electric motor and a pusher actuated by the motor to selectively apply a pressing force against friction elements of the brake, e.g. a stack of carbon disks.
During a braking operation on the aircraft, friction at the interfaces between the carbon disks give rise to vibration, and the level of that vibration can be very great. Such vibration is firstly perceived by pilots as indicating poor reliability, and secondly it gives rise to high levels of mechanical stress on landing gear and on all of the equipment situated on the landing gear, requiring the suppliers of such equipment to deploy major design efforts to ensure that the equipment retains satisfactory reliability in spite of the vibration.
Brake suppliers therefore seek to minimize such vibration and to make its level compatible with the requirements defined by aircraft manufacturers. Proposals have thus been made to attenuate vibration modes of a brake by breaking the symmetry of the structure of the brake, e.g. by adding openings or recesses that are distributed in non-uniform manner in the structure of the brake. That solution requires reinforcement to be added to the structure in order to compensate for the openings or recesses and in order to rebalance the brake, thereby tending to make the structure of the brake more complex and to increase its weight and its cost.